Recently, my partner and I stayed at a small rural hotel in Australia’s Sunshine Coast. Check in was pleasant and friendly. We dumped our bags in the room, had a shower and went out to dinner. As I reached into my pocket in the restaurant at about 1020pm for the car keys to return to the hotel, I realised that I did not have the room key. I immediately rang the hotel and got the voice mail of reception. I left a detailed message and then rang again 30 minutes later. When we arrived at the hotel at…
Tuesday Trip Report: Air Australia
I blogged on Friday about Air Australia – the newest airline operating in Australia. Today’s Trip Report is about my recent journey on board their only domestic flight: between Brisbane and Melbourne, the two hubs of Air Australia’s international operations. Booking: 6 out of 10 As noted in my blog post, last Friday, the CEO of Air Australia, the newest airline in the country, has promised that the airline will bring “Simplicity”. Well that promise did not extend to fares, the booking process or to the website. There are five types of fares (Sale, Saver, Flex Saver, Flexible and Business). I have already said Air…
Qantas A380 Turbulence
Qantas A380 VH-OQF called Charles Kingsford Smith en route to Singapore as QF 32, encountered severe turbulence over India as a result of storms in the region. A minute after the seatbelt sign came on, the plane began a series of drops and pitches. Some passengers has not made it back to their seats and were tossed up in the air, along with anything else not secured. Passengers screamed as the turbulence hit the plane. There were seven injuries- none serious. Passengers have praised the crew and the captain for the way they handled the situation. Plane, crew and…
Five Flights in one week of 2012
I have already flown five times this New Year! All flights but one with Virgin Australia Business class around Australia! Thank you Velocity Frequent Flyer seats! So much for less flying in 2012. The exception was an Air Australia economy flight- check out my Trip Report on them – coming up Tuesday 10th.
Marathoning in Hobart
I have just run a half marathon in Hobart, Tasmania. One of my 2012 steps toward my fitness goal is 12 major runs of 12km (7miles) or more. Of those I aim to do six half marathons. A half marathon is 21km (almost 13 miles). I am aiming to do a half marathon in Paris in March. Maybe one on the Gold Coast of Australia in July. Anyone want to join me? Or for any of them? Open to suggestions of interesting places to run. Today’s race: The Cadbury Marathon was relatively well organised. There were very…
Air Australia–Where does a new Carrier fit?
Since the start of aviation , Australia’s domestic airline market has been largely composed of two major national airlines. From time to time the cozy duopoloy is challenged by a new entrant with a blaze of low fares.The latest such carrier is Air Australia. 2011 Background Twelve months is a long time in aviation. Qantas the dominant domestic carrier suffered a series of rolling disputes in 2011 culminating in the dramatic three day grounding of the carrier’s services. Tiger Airlines Australia was also grounded be the safety authorities in mid 2011 for safety breaches. Virgin Blue the nation’s largest discount carrier has made a move to full service airline. Brisbane-based Strategic Airlines Operating…
My Favourite Cities at end of 2011
In 2011 I visited eleven new cities with a population of 100 000 people plus. This brought the number of cities I have been to with that size population to 167. The new cities were (in order of how highly I rated them) Seoul, S Korea…I was blown away by this amazing vibrant capital city. I ve decided it is the best city in Asia and my 11th favourite in the world! Here I am pictured in down town Seoul Exeter, UK….a cute small English city with amazing Roman ruins and a very old and grand Cathedral Dubai, UAE…as fun, spectacular…
How many Shoes do you travel with?
The woman in front of me arrived at check in with two suitcases, two smaller carry-on style bags on wheels, a laptop bag and a handbag. On being told she would have to pay to get them all on board, there came a period of frantic repacking which resulted in one of the carry-ons being left behind. We got to watch the woman’s bags full contents as she packed and unpacked. I counted 15 pairs of shoes. If she has been away for the Christmas/New Year period, this means she had one pair of shoes…
Trip Report: Air France A380
This is my sixth A380 trip having flown A380s operated by Singapore, Qantas, Emirates, Korean and Lufthansa. Air France was one of the launch customers for the A380 in 2001, ordering 12. They got their first A380 in October, 2009. Booking: 10 out of 10 Upon searching for economy airfares from the USA to Europe and back, I found Air France was offering a sale on its Premium Economy product (Premium Voyageur) so I treated myself to that! Booking, payment and ticketing was very straightforward. Unfortunately the very small premium economy cabin had only two seats left- both in the middle section of the cabin. I like my window seat!…
Virgin America Plane Clips fence
Media sources say that a Virgin America airplane bound for San Francisco as flight 83, clipped a fence at O’Hare International Airport with one of its wings on Saturday afternoon at about 230pm. The plane was leaving the gate. No injuries were reported and the accident will be investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board.
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